Travels

Cul·ture shock – Dictionary noun the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes. We arrived in Hanoi on a Sunday afternoon. Driving through the streets was quite an experience. There were thousands of motorbikes on the road and some of them have a family of five on one bike. It’s like a sea of bikes coming towards…

After we left New Zealand, we flew 10 hours to Singapore. I thought that when we arrived in Asia we would have a big shock but it didn’t seem too different from any other city to me. One of the differences was that there was lots of greenery to balance out the amount of tall buildings. We were lucky enough to be staying with one of mum’s colleague’s Carla and…

After nearly seven months of travelling, through 3 continents and 11 countries, we arrived in a remote paradise, on the other side of the world to home and had one of the most magical weeks of our trip so far. Abel Tasman National Park: Situated on the north coast of New Zealand’s South Island and so remote it is only accessed by boat or plane. This wilderness reserve has 60km…

Our third stop in New Zealand was Rotorua. We hadn’t planned to go there but it had rained a lot and so we changed our plans and decided to go somewhere there was a lot to do – even in the rain. We drove all the way from the Bay of Islands in the Defender that the Duder’s lent us. Our first day in Rotorua was AMAZING!!!!! In the morning,…

On the 3rd of February, we finished our Australia adventure and begun our time in New Zealand. We flew into Auckland and got a ferry over to an Island called Waiheke. We were there to visit our friends the Mews who used to live in Richmond. One of their daughter’s Harriet, was in Willow’s class. Willow was so excited to see Harriet because she hadn’t seen her for a long…

We left Byron bay on the 25th January and we had 8 days to visit Airlie Beach – to explore the Whitsunday Islands, Mission Beach, Cairns – right at the top of Australia and Uluru. In Airlie Beach we went on a boat trip and got to go snorkelling. There were invisible jellyfish in the sea and if you get stung you feel like you’re going to die and you…

Betsy: We left Byron Bay today after four weeks. The middle two we were on our own. I really liked that time because we did lots of things as a family. It wasn’t like normal life in Richmond but it was like ‘travelling the world normal’ for us. For example, doing school work in the morning and going out to do something fun in the afternoon. On the first week…

When we arrived in Byron, the welcome sign said ‘Cheer up, Slow down, Chill out!” which made us really excited to have a month here. Our house is really nice and has a pool with a fountain. Darcy and I got a room downstairs with two singles… which we immediately pushed together. On our first evening we walked into town and down to the beach, which is only a 10…

I love Christmas. I absolutely love it. Most of all, I love the build up. The irony is, that the six weeks or so leading up to the big day is without a doubt, the busiest time of year for me and so often pretty stressful. As for most mum’s (and yes I’m fairly convinced that in the vast majority of homes it is the mum who bares the brunt…

Lola: This was only my second time ever skiing, so I was not a very good skier at the beginning. I went to ski school and was put into level 3 with one boy and a few girls. I made friends with a girl called Lila. We had lots of fun in ski school; our teacher was called Felix. He was a great teacher but always to forgot to give…